Thursday, August 8, 2013, 8pmTickets $10 in advance/ $15 at the door

It won’t quite be Mortal Kombat but sparks will fly as two classical composers with a penchant for pop duke it out at Galapagos next Thursday night, August 8. In Rolnick’s corner will be yours truly along with Bang On A Can All-Star pianistVicky Chow, both longtime champions of the Rolnick team. Matt Marks’ crew features downtown piano divaKathleen Supové, Alarm Will Sound violinistCourtney Orlando, trumpeterMike Gurfield(of Signal and the Deviant Septet), and flutistDomenica Fossati(of Concert Black and Underground System). Of course, both composers will be on hand and on stage to referee, and it’s entirely possible that both sides will find themselves in an all out ‘return to Thunderdome’ finish. This, however, remains to be seen.

Neil Rolnick will be trotting out a brand new mash-up of Everly Brothers tunes and a time traveling improvisation from the 80s, as well as putting up his tried and true standards – Hammer & Hair, Digits and Fiddle Faddle.

Matt Marks’ crew will be playing his collection of Shame Remixes – pieces based on musical guilty pleasures – including remixes of Disney songs, Baptist hymns, Taylor Swift, Sadé, and Marks’ grand remix of the Dirty Dancing soundtrack: Mixtape for the Summer of ’63.

Okay, in the end, it’s not really much of a real battle. More like a lovefest. That’s really pretty much all I’ll really get involved in. But someone picked this marketing direction, so I’m following along. Most have seen Vicky and I play Neil’s music, but never at Galapagos, and never alongside one of my favorite other solo performer/composers, Matt Marks.